


Aftershock

by FowlJ



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:33:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24385900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FowlJ/pseuds/FowlJ
Summary: When Futaba first learned of what the phantom thieves could do, it seemed like a dream come true. The ultimate answer to the way she had been feeling for so long — something that could make all her problems justgo away. What she got instead was... harder. And yet, in so many ways, it was so much more than she had ever hoped for.But not ineveryway. Some nights, it seemed, she would be feeling that more keenly than others.She could handle this, though. She wasn't alone, anymore.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Sakura Futaba, Kurusu Akira/Sakura Futaba, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakura Futaba
Comments: 10
Kudos: 63





	Aftershock

Futaba swiped between her media feeds for what was probably the dozenth time in as many minutes, finding each stubbornly unchanged. She dropped her phone down on the desk and leant back in her chair with a huff, eyes passing over the clock displayed on her monitor — five after two in the morning.

It was looking like it would be one of _those_ nights.

Futaba hadn't had one of these in a while. She had been kind of hoping that she _wouldn't_ , anymore. Apparently, that just wasn't her luck.

It felt like every second was lasting a minute, with nothing to do but sit mired in her own thoughts and stare absently at nothing in particular. Her usual hobbies all felt greyed-out and unselectable, and there was no work to keep herself busy with — the phansite was filled with not much more than request after request for Kunikazu Okumura, and things had been pretty quiet on the Alibaba front too.

Sojiro had gone to bed already, after a half-hearted attempt to get her to do the same. Her eclectic sleep schedule had failed her again, however, and she wasn't tired at all. She kind of wanted to pester him awake to talk, but there was no point. Sojiro was a supportive person, and he tried his best to understand things, but when it came to some things he just didn't _get_ it. Futaba knew that she wouldn't be able to explain how she was feeling. She still bounced the possibility around in her mind for a while, though. The drone of the repeated idea was at least a brief distraction from her own wandering thoughts.

Things probably wouldn't get as bad as they used to, this time. She hadn't had any hallucinations since her heart was changed, and her only panic attacks had been from pushing past her boundaries a little faster than she was ready for. But even now she felt the echoes of them at the edges of her perception, daring her to leave her head in this place long enough to find out. She decided she would rather _not_ , and that meant she needed a distraction.

She wheeled her chair around to face the door, considering heading to the kitchen. She wasn't hungry, but rifling through the fridge for leftover curry seemed like something to do for at least a few minutes. Yeah, curry… something about that seemed right, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She was just beginning to slide out of her chair and towards the door when it clicked into place.

Not the curry, but the person who _made_ the curry. _Sojiro_ may not know what to do if she woke him up, but she had more people than just Sojiro in her life, now — among them, one curry-guru-in-training with an extraordinary, somewhat baffling aptitude for knowing exactly what to say when somebody needed him.

Futaba spun back around and snatched her phone up from the desk, bringing up the messaging app and tapping on Ren's icon. She felt the tiniest bit bad about waking him up in the middle of the night, but it wasn't as if everybody _else_ didn't do it sometimes, too.

Plus, _her_ two-in-the-morning messages were _special_ , now.

> Futaba, 02:13  
>  Hey, hot stuff  
>  You up?

There. Ren was a pretty light sleeper, and he always kept his phone on him — the harrowing period between initiating a conversation and participating in one would hopefully be mercifully brief.

The minute on the clock advanced. Maybe he was extra tired tonight? It could be that Ren just didn't feel like talking. Normally when that happened, he would just ignore all of somebody's messages and then never mention it again, which Futaba considered _highly_ relatable. He usually made time for _her_ , though, and his seemingly preternatural sense of when somebody needed an active listener should _really_ be going off right about now. She decided to try one more time.

> Futaba, 02:17  
>  Hellllloooooo  
>  Messaging for important girlfriend business  
>  AKA I want somebody to talk to  
>  Anyone home?
> 
> Mona you read these right  
>  Smack Ren awake for me

Futaba frowned at the screen, slowly deepening into a pout as time crept forward without a response. This was weird. It was fine if Ren didn't want to talk — it _was_ the middle of the night, after all — but _Mona_ would never endure so many notifications going off without demanding that he do something about it. It seemed as though Ren wasn't getting the messages at all, for whatever reason.

It was probably something mundane. He didn't have an outlet next to his bed, did he? Maybe his battery ran out. Futaba started to get a little antsy if her devices were running low on power, but maybe Ren was a bit more easygoing in that respect. It was a first, though, and like most firsts it carried a pulse of anxiety that made her wonder if everything was alright.

She knew better than to _trust_ that anxiety, but that had rarely stopped her. Still, though, what could have even happened? Did he trip over Morgana and send them both crashing down the stairs? Accidentally set off a stun gun while he was working on it? Add a fatal amount of spice to his experimental curry? The mountingly surreal scenarios did disappointingly little to quell the small but persistent doubt in her mind, stoked by the noxious pit that had already settled in her stomach tonight.

Futaba grumbled. She had two real options: she could sit around and be worried all night, which if she was being honest is probably what she would chosen at most points in her life, or she could just go _check_. She slipped out of her chair and headed for the door.

She carefully padded down the hall towards the front door of the Sakura residence. Sojiro was long since used to her creeping around at odd hours, but she'd rather not risk waking him up and having to explain why she was wandering out the door at night. She tugged her boots on before gently opening the door, slipping outside, and clicking it closed behind her.

Futaba couldn't help but think of how, a few months ago, she could never have dreamt of doing this. It wasn't like she was really _going_ _out_ at night, just walking down the street, but it was still a little thrilling.

And a little frightening. The darkness that she normally found so soothing felt poisonous and hostile, filling the stagnant September air. The light was no better, old incandescent fixtures flickering and buzzing aggressively as she walked past. She hurried down the street pursued by the echoes of her own footsteps and the growling of distant vehicles, almost running as she passed the poorly stocked vending machine outside the batting cages and wheeled around the corner. She came to a stop before the door to the café and pushed it open.

Or at least that was the plan, but the door was locked. That happened frequently at night, in retrospect.

The most obvious next step was to slink back home and be haunted by this mildly embarrassing event for the rest of her life, but that would involve an immediate repeat of the walk here — Futaba decided she would rather not. Which meant that she needed a way inside. She was pretty sure that Sojiro actually kept a spare key concealed near the door, in case one was lost, but she had never seen exactly where.

She began poking around to look for it. It wasn't under the welcome mat, or among the potted plants near the door. Well, _hopefully_ it wasn't under the largest one, since she couldn't actually lift that one. Not hidden around the battered sign standing out towards the street, or in any kind of hollow in the blocks of the adjacent building.

That last one was a little out there. She was getting off track, and with every sound and sensation feeling like a hammer to her nerves, she wanted to get this over with. She had to think like _Sojiro_.

She briefly entertained the image of herself as a curmudgeonly barista bemoaning _kids these days_ , but swiftly pushed it aside as unlikely to provide insight on where Sojiro would hide a key.

He was much taller than Futaba, that could be a factor. She had mostly been looking at places _she_ would focus on, but it could easily be somewhere above her head. Unfortunately, at a glance, there didn't seem to be any obvious hiding places that high. She had already checked lower to the ground, but in retrospect that didn't make sense either — Sojiro wasn't very flexible, he probably wouldn't hide the key somewhere he had to bend to reach it. Somewhere, then, that a person his height could easily reach standing up. The most obvious place like _that_ was probably…

"Aha!"

On the back of the menu board, Futaba found affixed a small plastic sleeve into which was slipped a spare key. It was honestly pretty obvious when you looked for it — it was lucky that Leblanc didn't have anything worth stealing. Except for her Key Item, she supposed. She should maybe talk to Sojiro about moving the key somewhere more secure.

That, however, sounded a lot like _future_ Futaba's problem. _Present_ Futaba had a boyfriend to check on, and key in hand there was nothing left standing in her way. She unlocked the door and pushed it open, wincing at the jangling bell reverberating in the quiet space as she stepped inside.

The café was dark, the light from outside barely making it a couple metres past the door before fading. Futaba cautiously shuffled over to the light switch behind the counter, flipping it and filling the interior with a dull yellow glow. She looked around. At a glance, everything seemed to be in place — no horrible cat or curry related demise was evident. All that was left now was a quick peek upstairs. She headed past the restroom and started up the stairs. As she poked her head over the top landing, peering into the attic bedroom, her heart skipped a beat.

She saw Ren's bed, faintly illuminated by the light coming in the window from the street. Ren's bed, _without Ren in it_. He was nowhere to be seen. She had begun to think she was just being stupid about this, but had something _actually happened_ to him? Futaba hopped up the remaining stairs, stepping into the room proper.

Had he been going somewhere tonight? He met with his contacts at odd hours sometimes, but never so late that she was aware of. Had something stopped him from getting home? The store was all in order, though, and Sojiro didn't normally clean up now that he had Ren to do it for him. It wasn't like people just _disappeared_ , though, so what happened? She started forward to investigate the room when she heard something behind her.

"Futaba?"

Futaba leapt out of her skin, twisting around suddenly enough to lose her balance and hit the ground with a yelp. Her gaze darted upwards, landing on a bewildered Ren stepping out of the darkness at the far end of the room, a curious Morgana eyeing her from behind him.

" _You_!" she exclaimed.

"Me?" Ren replied after a moment. He looked slightly lost, standing in his sleep clothes with his arms hanging loosely at his sides. His hair was more dishevelled than usual, and he wasn't wearing his glasses — Futaba was kind of jealous of how well he could apparently still see without them.

That was beside the point, though. "Yes, _you_!" she reiterated. "You're fine!"

"Well… thanks? You're pretty fine yourself," Ren returned with a tired smirk. An _absolutely unfair_ turnaround, in Futaba's opinion. "But, uh," he continued, "what are you doing here?"

Oh, there it was. The part where somebody wanted to know _why_ Futaba was doing something weird, and she was expected to vocalize it. She had never been very good at that part.

She was a new Futaba now, though! She could go right into Akihabara by herself and only feel like crying a little! This should be a piece of cake by comparison.

But, as it often did when she acted on her anxiety, the truth was feeling pretty embarrassing in the face of absolutely nothing being wrong. Something _adjacent_ to the truth, then, may work a little better.

"Well I just sort of… wanted to see you?"

There. That wasn't so hard. Morgana's tail flicked as his confused expression gave way to irritation.

"That's all? You know this guy's got school in the morning, right? At the very least you could have sent a message, so we didn't think there was a break in or something."

Futaba scowled right back at him. "I did! If _somebody_ had actually gotten it, there would have been nothing to worry about!"

"You were… worried about me?" Ren asked, before Morgana could argue back at her.

_Riiiiight_ , she had decided not to open with that part, huh? Whoops.

"Uh…" she said, eyes finding a very interesting floorboard to focus on, "yeah. A little."

She heard footsteps approaching, looking up to see Ren standing over her with his hand outstretched. Without really thinking, she reached out and took it.

"You'll be glad to know that I'm alright, then," he said, pulling her gently to her feet.

"Yep," she said. "Noticed that one. Sorry for coming all the way here for that."

Ren shrugged. "No problem. Was there anything else you needed?"

"No," Futaba responded, before remembering that she actually _had_ wanted to talk to Ren for a purpose other than embarrassing herself tonight. "Or… nevermind, it wasn't a big deal." She had at least found something _else_ to be haunted by all night, so she'd probably be good now.

Ren didn't seem so convinced, looking at her with concern. "Well," he ventured, "did you want to stay for a while anyway? You already came all the way here, we could talk for a bit."

Futaba could feel her face burning already, but she took a deep breath, the way she had always been told to practice when she started getting flustered. She nodded. "Yeah. That'd be nice."

Morgana looked ready to mutiny, eyes darting between the two of them as if deciding who to lodge his complaint with. After a moment he seemed to silently acknowledge defeat, turning towards the stairs.

"Just don't stay up too late, you two! Ren has school, and you both have phantom thief business to attend to — we need you to be in peak condition!" He trotted down the stairs before they could acknowledge him, leaving the two of them alone.

"Well," Ren said, "feel free to sit wherever you like, then. I'd offer you a coffee, but I think Morgana would attack if I did that."

"Eh, I don't need that right now anyway," Futaba replied, walking past the ratty old couch and sitting down on the slightly less ratty old bed.

Ren flicked on the lights in the attic before walking over and pulling his phone out his pocket. He pressing the power button, sighing as nothing happened. "Yeah, I think I forgot to charge it. Sorry."

Futaba shook her head. "Nah, no big deal. The message wasn't even the real thing I was worried about."

Ren nodded, plugging the phone into the charger near his workbench. "Want to talk about it, or just hang out?"

"First later, second now. I gotta think about it for a minute."

"Alright," Ren said. He set his phone down and sat down next to her on the bed. His glasses were still off, which didn't seem to bother him at all. Futaba took the opportunity to gawk, noting how _different_ he looked without them — more like somebody his own age, somehow. It wasn't a bad look.

He politely ignored her staring for a moment before tilting his head inquisitively at her. "Something on my face?"

"The opposite!"

"Opposi…" Ren began, before he caught her meaning. "Ah!" he said, leaning over to the windowsill and snatching his glasses. He slid them on, fussing with his hair a bit to bring him back to his usual look. "Better?"

"Not really," Futaba said, replaying in her mind the little 'o' of surprise his mouth had just made, and the way it flashed across his eyes. Ren in model student mode never let his face do that — now that she knew he _could_ , she kind of wanted to see more of it.

"Wow, _thanks_ ," he said, with mock affront.

"B-but good!" she corrected. "Both good! Very good, yes!"

"Wow, thanks," he repeated more sincerely. "I'd say the same, though I think the only time I've seen you without your glasses you were unconscious."

"Well _yeah_ , because I don't have your weirdo eyes where you can not even notice you aren't wearing them," Futaba grumbled. "I can't see a thing without these."

Ren nodded. "Fair enough."

Futaba leant against Ren, head on his shoulder. He took her hand as they sat together.

"You're super warm," she noted happily.

"Am I?" Ren asked. "I'm pretty sure _you're_ just super cold."

"I have a very efficient cooling system! And maybe I could exercise a little more. But mostly the first thing!"

"I could show you the basics some time," Ren mused, seemingly staring up into the rafters. Futaba shrugged, continuing to lean in to the at least _relatively_ significant warmth.

The two lapsed into companionable silence for a while. Futaba smiled at how peaceful it felt. The haunting thoughts and incoherent fears she had been fleeing from tonight couldn't seem to reach her here, shielded by the calm aura of her Key Item. She wanted nothing more than for them to stay here, drifting off to sleep together without a care in the world. They couldn't, though, she knew. For as worried as she had been in that brief moment when she saw Ren's empty bed, if _Sojiro_ woke up and found her missing he may have an actual heart attack.

That meant she had to return home, alone with her thoughts again, and _that_ meant she had to address them while she still could. She felt like she could handle it, now.

"Tonight…" she began, breaking the silence, "was a bad night."

"Oh?" Ren inquired, turning his head slightly to look at her without shaking her off his shoulder.

"Not this part," she clarified, "this part's pretty great. But earlier."

"When you first decided to come over?"

"Yeah. Even before then, actually. But it took me a while to really notice, because it was so much like how I used to feel all the time."

"Lot of anxiety?" he ventured.

" _Sooooort_ of," she took a moment to find the right words, "But not quite. It's like I'm in some kind of fog. I can't focus on things or distract myself with anything, I just feel sort of lost and I can't do anything but think. And then when I _do_ think, my thoughts sort of… go places."

"Nowhere good, I'm assuming."

"No. It always starts with dumb stuff, like embarrassing things I did as a kid, and then it sort of gets bigger — the way the other kids would treat me at school, what it was like living with my uncle, remembering what happened to mom and the things they said to me after she died. It was always nights like this where everything got really bad." Futaba paused to take a breath. "And… I didn't want to be alone with that. I wanted to talk to you, so I sent you a message and you didn't respond. And there's lots of reasons that could be, but right then I was all worried about everything and I couldn't stop thinking ' _what if something bad happened_ ' until eventually, I decided that I needed to check."

Ren nodded slightly as he listened, expression inscrutable. "I'm sorry that I worried you like that," he said when she was finished.

"Don't be. If it wasn't that, I would have just found something else to get worked up over. It always goes like that."

"Even so," he reiterated. A beat passed before he addressed her again. "Does this happen often?"

Futaba shook her head. "It _used_ to happen all the time. Not every night, but a lot. This is the first time since you guys changed my heart, though. I…" she swallowed thickly, "I kind of thought that it had _stopped_."

Ren gently brushed his thumb over her hand. "I'm sorry that it couldn't be that easy."

"'Course it couldn't," she said bitterly. "You know, back when I first blackmailed you guys into helping me, the whole thing felt like it would be a dream come true. Something that could make all my problems just _go away_ , like that. Things just aren't that simple, though, huh?"

"Not in my experience, no."

"Yeah, figured. It's not like I _regret_ it or anything, meeting you all is probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. But I have so much farther left to go, and then something happens and I feel like I'm right back where I started. It's frustrating."

"I can imagine it would be," Ren said. "I'm here for you, though. We all are."

Futaba shrugged. "You are. And that's the only reason I've gotten _anything_ done."

"I don't think that's true."

"Eh?"

Ren paused for a moment. Futaba eyed him as he stared thoughtfully at nothing in particular, the way he did when there was something on his mind. Once he had collected his thoughts enough, he spoke.

"I know I've helped you a lot. I'm glad that I could, and I'm glad to keep doing it, whenever you need me for as long as I can. But the only reason I even met you was because of a decision you made to help yourself."

"To have somebody else help me," she corrected.

"You were still there fighting your own cognition alongside us," Ren pointed out, "but I guess I can give you half of that one. But it didn't stop there. The only reason I was there helping with your promise list was because you decided there were things that you wanted to achieve, even if they were too hard to do alone. You've never once stopped wanted to push yourself to be better — you do the most terrifying things that you can think of, because you want to prove you can. And it _works_. There's so much you're capable of now that you weren't before, and that's something _you_ did. For a lot of it, I was just along for the ride."

Oh. Futaba supposed it didn't sound too bad when you put it like that. Or maybe Ren could just make anything sound good by saying it like that, unwavering conviction and fondness in every word.

But… he had a point, didn't he? There _were_ a lot that she could do now. Things she couldn't have before, even back in the days when her mother was there. Things that she was _proud_ of, even if a lot of people might not think they were such a big deal. So what if she wasn't quite 100% yet?

"So, no," Ren continued softly, "I don't think that I'm the only reason you've gotten anything done. And even if you stumble sometimes, I don't think there's anything left that could bring you back to where you started. I don't think that you would let it."

Futaba felt her face growing hot. She wasn't sure how Ren could just go ahead and _say_ things like that. It was like he had some kind of Null Embarrassment skill. Like many things he decided were worth saying, though, it felt… right. She _wouldn't_ let it, would she? That was the promise that she had made to herself, burning at the centre of her heart since July. Having a bad night again had been a nasty shock, but the idea that it alone would trip her up that easily suddenly seemed laughable. She felt like she was going to be alright.

"Futaba?"

Futaba snapped back to reality, finding Ren looking right at her.

"Hi!" she said.

"Hello," he returned. "Everything good?"

She felt kind of airy, actually. The darkness at the edges of her mind seemed to have boiled away. Taking a breath, she nodded a couple times, confirming it to herself as much as anyone. "Yeah," she said, "I think that helped, actually. Thank you."

"I'm glad."

He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, which _probably_ wasn't meant to feel as electric as it did. It seemed that in the absence of worry her body had gotten right back to producing the strange mix of elation and nervousness that she still wasn't quite used to.

She didn't mind it so much, though.

"So…" she breathed, leaning into Ren's side, "if that's settled, what do you want to do now?"

Ren thought for a moment, gazing off into space. "Sleep, probably."

"Oh," she said. "Right."

"I wouldn't mind spending more time together, but it _is_ late. Morgana's right, we need to be rested for the Metaverse."

"Yeah, I get it," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Way to kill the mood, _Mona_."

Ren chuckled. "Sorry," he leaned close to her ear, voice dropping just above a whisper, "guess I'll just have to make it up to you some time."

" _Oh_!" Futaba sat up straight. "Well that sounds good! _A-anyway_ , did Sojiro set the heat too high or something? Feels kind of hot in here."

"Must just be you," Ren drawled. "Cooling system not keeping up?"

"I-it's not made for overclocking!" she protested, springing up from the bed. "That was _way_ beyond factory levels!"

"Sorry," he said, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "Maybe you should convince Sojiro to install some air conditioning up here?"

He stood up from the bed himself. "For now, though, I suppose we'll just have to get you back to yours, before something melts."

Futaba pouted. The nerve of this guy, acting like any hardware failures wouldn't be entirely his fault! Mark her words, someday she would find a way around Ren's Null Embarrassment and there would be _retribution_.

For _now_ , though, cooling down was probably a good idea. "Alright."

He nodded. "Okay then. Phone should be charged soon, be sure to let me know if you need anything. Come on, I'll walk you back." He started towards the stairs.

Futaba skipped after him, grateful for the change of pace. Her emotional rollercoaster for the night had ended on a much higher note than it began, but after that last twist the fatigue was quickly catching up with her. Going home to recharge was sounding pretty good. Morgana was lurking dejectedly in one of the booths as they came down the stairs. His eyes flicked to her as he noticed their approach.

"Doing better now?" he asked her, his tone surprisingly sincere. She supposed he must have been listening in the whole time with his cat ears. Note to self: account for Mona before having _any_ private interactions.

Still, though, at least he cared. "Yep, all good now," she said. "Probably."

"Good. We need our navigator in good shape if we're going further into Okumura's palace tomorrow," he stated, with indifference even more fake than Mona usually managed. Futaba walked over and pinched his cheeks. "H-hey! Cut that out!" he cried.

"And just like that, 'probably' becomes 'almost definitely'!" she said, mushing his face around a bit before letting him go with one last pat on the head. "Maybe when we all retire you should become a therapy animal."

"I'm _going_ to become a _human_ …" he grumbled, darting past her legs and halfway up the attic stairs. "Just hurry up. You two have stayed up late enough tonight, and _I_ at least would like some decent sleep."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved him off as she joined Ren near the door. "See you later, Mona."

She nodded to Ren, who opened the door — somehow without clattering the bell as loudly as Futaba had — and stepped outside, holding it ajar for her. She followed, and the two began the brief walk back to her house.

The street seemed calmer, coming back. The distant traffic didn't rumble as harshly, the flickering of the streetlights wasn't as stark, and the shadows felt less likely to be concealing danger. Futaba felt much more relaxed, save for _one last thing_ lingering at the edges of her mind.

"So…" she began as they walked, "you know those stun guns that you make?"

"What about them?"

"Those don't actually do anything outside the Metaverse, right?"

"No," Ren said, looking at her curiously. "Why?"

"Just checking."

He looked puzzled, but nodded affirmatively and didn't inquire further.

They walked in silence for another couple of minutes before turning the corner and approaching the gate to the Sakura residence. Futaba slowed to a stop as they came near it, scuffing her boot idly across the ground as Ren turned to look at her. "All good?" he asked.

"Yep. Just wanted to say thanks, one more time."

"Don't worry about it. I'm happy to help."

"Still," she said, stepping forward and hugging up against his side, "I appreciate it."

Ren rested his head on top of hers as he returned the hug with one arm. They stayed that way for a little while, the last of Futaba's tension bleeding away into the warmth. She felt her eyelids drooping and she stumbled, Ren steadying her as she threatened to fall asleep where she was standing.

"And with _that_ ," he said, "I think it may be time to call it a night."

"I could keep going…" Futaba yawned, "but sure, that sounds fine too."

She shrugged out the hug and ambled through the gate, turning to give Ren a quick wave. "Bye!"

"Bye."

She made her way through the door and started back to her room, tugging off her boots and flopping down on the bed once she got inside. As usually happened when she laid down, her tiredness had immediately retreated — she had a while yet before she actually fell asleep. Still, as she stared idly at the ceiling, she was so much more relaxed than she had been. All in all, it had been a very fruitful trip.

She brought her hand up and slapped it down on her face with a groan as she realized she forgot to put the spare key back. She reluctantly dragged herself back into a sitting position, contemplating the idea of going back for it. Sojiro probably wouldn't notice if she didn't, right? But if he _did_ , it'd get him all worried for no reason. Ultimately, it would be only a small delay, if also an irritating one.

Futaba began to reach for her boots when her phone buzzed. Presumably, Ren was texting goodnight. She swiped it open to check.

> Ren, 03:09  
>  Don't worry about the key, I put it back for you.

> Futaba, 03:09  
>  Oh, thanks

Well, that was convenient. As expected of her Key Item, really. Mission now completed, Futaba threw herself back onto the bed. But as she glanced at the message again, something felt a little off.

> Futaba, 03:09  
>  Wait a minute  
>  How

> Ren, 03:10  
>  I noticed it was gone as we were leaving, so I snuck it out of your pocket.

> Futaba, 03:10  
>  You stole it from me?

> Ren, 03:10  
>  Yeah, sorry about that.

> Futaba, 03:10  
>  If you noticed, why wouldn't you point it out as we were leaving?

> Ren, 03:11  
>  I kind of just wanted to see if I could.  
>  I don't normally steal things from people in real life.

> Futaba, 03:11  
>  You know what  
>  Valid  
>  Half the time I break into somebody's server it's just because their security looked fun to bypass

> Ren, 03:12  
>  Make sure not to tell Makoto you're still doing that, it's bad for her blood pressure.

> Futaba, 03:13  
>  Not my fault she makes such a big thing out it  
>  I've been doing it since before I even met you guys

> Ren, 03:13  
>  Humour me.

> Futaba, 03:13  
>  Yeah, alright

> Ren, 03:13  
>  Thank you.  
>  Anyway, I wanted to say goodnight.  
>  (And apologize for teasing earlier.)

> Futaba, 03:14  
>  Eh, I walked right into that  
>  Just you wait though, I'll turn the tables on you one of these days!

> Ren, 03:14  
>  Ooh, something to look forward to.  
>  For now, I've got to go - I think Morgana's starting to consider putting me to sleep forever.
> 
> (By the way, please don't invite him to smack me.)  
>  He uses his claws, it's bad.

> Futaba, 03:16  
>  Ouch, okay  
>  Night, then

> Ren, 03:16  
>  Goodnight.  
>  Love you.

> Futaba, 03:17  
>  <3

Futaba lay in bed, staring at Ren's last message until the screen turned off.

_Love you_.

Such a small thing. But with it she felt almost the way she did when he was right there next to her, at once exhilarated and serene. When she had decided to try and take back her life, she had never imagined that something like this would come with it.

She wouldn't go back. No matter what sickly shadows tried to take root in her mind, they couldn't take away what now belonged to her — the life that she never knew that she could lead, the friends she never knew that she could have, and this feeling that she never knew she could experience. She would never give them up for anything.

And if she was ever in danger of forgetting, she knew that she had someone who would remind her.

Futaba let her arm drop to her side and closed her eyes, tiredness gradually taking root in her body. It wasn't unlike the pleasant exhaustion of completing a big project, but without the headache incurred by staring at a screen for so many hours. Maybe she should make midnight trips to Leblanc more often. Though, if she did it too much, Morgana might decide to quit the team a second time.

For now, though, she was content to rest. There was still a lot of ground to cover in Kunikazu Okumura's palace, and they wanted to secure their route within the next couple of days. If she was on top of her game, they could be stealing his heart by the end of the week. Then, it would be right on to the next target, and then the next, and the next.

She'd already had her own heart stolen _twice_ , after all. It was only fair to make sure everybody else got some, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there, here's my first Persona fic!
> 
> I've always looooooved Futaba as a character, and these two together, so after playing Royal I got the itch to write some stuff.
> 
> I feel like there ended up being some growing pains really getting the voice of the characters down, not sure I'm 100% there yet. I'm not unhappy with how it turned out in the end, but I'd definitely like to keep working on that in the future.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!


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